


Finding Balance

by Raven_Knight



Series: 2018 Autumn OTP Challenge - Multifandom [26]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Masters & Padawans, Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn, Platonic Relationships, Young Qui-Gon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 14:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Knight/pseuds/Raven_Knight
Summary: Eleven-year-old Padawan Jinn is left behind while his Master goes on a mission off-planet. Qui-Gon is left in the care of Jocasta Nu, and he's not exactly enthusiastic about it.





	Finding Balance

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. This piece, archived at Archive of Our Own (Ao3), is purely a non-commercial work of fiction from which I am not profiting in any way. This work may not be reproduced, archived, or redistributed by any means and/or in any format without prior written permission from me. Permission may be obtained by contacting me at r4v3n.kn1ght@gmail.com. 
> 
> This series of oneshots belong to the 2018 Autumn OTP Challenge, though I have done away with the OTP part of it and focus instead on either romantic ships I ship or platonic relationships that fit the prompt given. This oneshot is in response to prompt #26: Folklore. ~ RK

**Finding Balance**  
**By  
** **Raven Knight**

A reluctant eleven year old Padawan Jinn dragged his boots through the Jedi Temple until he stood outside the entrance to the Archives. He had no desire to go in there, not for the seventh day in a row. He had been paired with his master, Knight Dooku, for just over a year. He didn’t understand why he’d been ordered by both his master and the Council to stay behind while his master left for a mission. _It is too dangerous for so young a Padawan._ Qui-Gon disagreed. If he was old enough to even be a Padawan, then he should be allowed to go with his master on missions. On every mission. He failed to persuade anyone of this and found himself placed in the care of his master’s close friend, Archivist Jocasta Nu.

Qui-Gon didn’t dislike her exactly, only the environment in which she chose to spend the majority of her time. The Archives. The gigantic labyrinth of shelves had no life to them. They glowed blue with the information collected by Jedi over thousands of years, but they were still sterile, lifeless. Qui-Gon preferred anywhere that had at least one plant living in it. A garden or a planet with undisturbed nature would be best, but he would take a garden within which he could disappear. Being around other people was acceptable as well, but Qui-Gon thrived around nature and away from the cold sterility of the mechanical world.

And so he stood at the entrance of the Archives, unwilling to go in there again for another day of silence and the occasional visit by Madame Nu. He wouldn’t even be in this situation if Knight Dooku had waited to name him his Padawan when Qui-Gon turned twelve instead of having chosen him at ten years old. Had he been twelve, Qui-Gon believed he would never have been left behind by his master.

_There is nothing I can do to change it now._

He approached the Archives’ entrance and the door slid open for him. He walked inside like it was a punishment.

Every day had been the same. Get up, have morning meal, brush his teeth, dress in his Padawan tunics, hurry off to his morning classes, go to mid-meal in the commissary, attend afternoon classes, and then report to Madame Nu in the Archives to work on his assignments and readings until late meal, when she joined him in the commissary and interrogated him on his day. He politely asked about hers, but had no real interest in the unexciting, uneventful life of a cooped up Archivist. After their meal, Madame Nu trudged him back to the Archives to continue his assignments. When she completed her tasks in the evening, she escorted him home and put him to bed. The next day it repeated all over again and Qui-Gon’s dislike of the routine increased with every repetition.

He tensed when he felt her approach his study camp table. “How did today’s lessons go, Padawan?”

He ignored her question. “Can we go to the gardens?”

“No.”

Qui-Gon breathed deeply through his nose. _Wrong question._ He tried again. “Can _I_ go to the gardens?”

Madame Nu shook her head once, sharply. “Not by yourself, Padawan.”

“I go to my classes by myself,” he grumbled.

She tried to hide a smile behind her sternness. “Padawan Jinn, do you think your teachers don’t notify an apprentice’s master when their students skip their classes?”

Qui-Gon frowned, reminded again of being left behind by his master. “But you aren’t my master. Knight Dooku is.”

“No, I’m not. But until your master comes home from his mission, he chose me as your temporary master in his absence.”

Qui-Gon slumped in his chair, pouting at the table. “But it’s so boring here.”

“Is it?” She pulled out the chair next to his and sat down. “Young Qui-Gon, being a Jedi isn’t just about lightsabers and meditating. It’s a lifelong journey of seeking knowledge, learning the past to prevent its repetition in the future, finding peace in chaos, discovering and unlocking mysteries spanning thousands of years.” She noticed that, for the first time since being left in her care, Qui-Gon truly listened. “A Jedi is always learning, always growing, always seeking.”

Something clicked in Qui-Gon’s brain. He looked around at the stored information in Archives with a different point of view. “Is that why you stay here? To learn all the time?”

Jocasta smiled. “Partly. I’m also not very fond of fighting. Let others more inclined to it do that.”

Qui-Gon smiled back. “Like my master?”

“He’s an example, yes.”

Quiet settled between them as she watched the young Padawan look around at the many shelves. “How do I know where to start?” he asked, his voice small and hushed. “There’s so much here.”

She waited to answer him until he met her eyes again. Jocasta wanted to see the sincerity of his question. Satisfied with what she found, a thirst for knowledge, she posed a question of her own. She could not help him without it. “What is it that troubles you, Qui-Gon?”

He swallowed, took his time to think on his answer, nodded to himself, then spoke. “Master always trains me in saber and being proper and—well, he doesn’t try new things. He doesn’t let me try new things, and—” He shrank in his seat, as though he just remembered that he was saying this to his master’s friend. “I want to try new things,” he said, softly. “I like the gardens, but master doesn’t, and I can’t meditate right where he does.” Surprise transformed his expression. “I feel unbalanced,” he admitted, his revelation unexpected even to him.

Concerned at the potentially weak relationship between this young padawan and his master, Jocasta asked, “Have you said anything to the Council about these feelings?” She didn’t care if she was close with this boy’s master or not. If Qui-Gon felt unbalanced and not at peace with his own master, he would very likely need to be reassigned to another master with whom he could properly bond.

Qui-Gon shook his head.

“Do you want the Council to know?”

Qui-Gon shook his head faster, his opinion stronger.

Jocasta nodded. “In that case, Padawan, you need to find some way to achieve balance in yourself and with your master.” With that, she stood and quickly disappeared among the rows of stored information in the Archives.

Qui-Gon stayed in his seat, not sure if she had expected him to follow her or if her final words to him served as a challenge to find his own answers within the texts of the Archives. Did she think his problem hopeless and abandoned him to struggle on his own? Self-doubt and despair filled Qui-Gon. But when he saw Madame Nu walking towards his table again, a tiny spark of hope ignited in his heart.

She set a stack of holodisks on the table, selected one and inserted it in the newly-activated reader console at the table. “Perhaps these reports from diplomatic missions, introductory material on negotiation technique, and some general readings from Jedi Legends and Folklore will help you find the balance you seek.” With an encouraging smile, she nodded to the displayed text. Qui-Gon shifted his seat to directly face the reader and dutifully began to read. Within a minute he’d leaned a bit closer, engrossed in the mission report that read more like an adventure novel than a dry report. Jocasta ran an indulgent hand through his short, Padawan haircut to settle her hand on his shoulder. She squeezed gently, approvingly, then walked away to leave him to his new studies.

Hours later, she hurriedly returned, an apology at missing late meal at her lips. She swallowed the words at the sight of Padawan Jinn asleep at the reader. She quietly approached and glanced at the text still displayed.

The Prophecy of the Chosen One.

She powered off the reader, removed the holodisk from it, and gathered the rest of them in a neat stack. She touched a finger to the boy’s temple and sent him a gentle sleep suggestion so that he would not awaken as she gathered him in her arms. With a judicious yet frowned upon  use of the Force, Jocasta levitated the stack of holodisks to trail their departure from the Archives. After all, she couldn’t carry them and her sleeping charge at the same time. She carried him all the way back to her quarters, lowered his new research to the bedside table, and put the young Padawan to bed properly. Her friend had chosen a promising student, and she swore that she would be there as a resource for Qui-Gon should he ever have need for one. She activated the door and left him to his rest, knowing that tomorrow he would not be so reluctant to set foot in the Archives.

Padawan Jinn now had a mission to complete.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment on your way out. I'd love to hear from you! ~ RK


End file.
